General character

Having become so familiar with the character of Mount Etna, a visit to the active
volcanoes of Hawaii was bound to have some surprises. The two biggest surprises
were the sheer scale of everything, and the variety. Hawaii is an island of contrasts
- with tropical coastal areas, lush rain forest, arid deserts, and high mountains.
And prices range from fantastically inexpensive, to absurdly expensive. You'll
also regularly hear the phrase "it's a big Island". "Bah Humbug", we thought,
as we studied a map, noting that Big Island is a meagre 95 miles from tip-to-toe.
But when it's taken you two hours to drive less than 1/2 way around the island,
you conceed. It is, indeed, a big island!

The other thing that will strike you about Big Island is how very organised they are! You
could argue that this slightly "sterilises" the experience, and when we visited, there was
no hope of getting right close to the action. That said, the authorities do actively want
people to have the best volcano experience they can - but a safe one!

Time to Visit

The Big Island of Hawaii claims to have near perfect weather all year round - a claim they can make by virtue of the fact that
somewhere on the island it will almost certainly be sunny (except at night of course!). Somewhere else on the island though,
it will almost certainly be raining!

The key thing about the weather, is that if it is raining, all you need to do is wait 1/2 an hour, or drive for 1/2 an hour, and
you'll probably be out of the worst of it. Trade winds tend to blow fairly consistently all year round, with the Hilo (east) side of
the island catching the rain, and the Kona coast (west) being fairly arid. Kilauea volcano covers a huge area. It sits pretty much
in the middle of Hawaii Big Island, so has quite a mix of dry/wet weather.

Temperatures are a pleasant 85o in summer / 75o in winter down by the coast, but can drop to sub-zero when you
get up at alititude. Mauna Kea is nearly 4200m high!

We visited in mid-late September as the seasons are changing from Summer to Winter. The coast was pleasantly warm, but up in Volcano
village (~1100m altitude) it was certainly cool at night. If the weather was rubbish, we just went somewhere else, and it was beautiful!
In bright sun, it was about 4o at the summit on Mauna Kea. On our visit, it rained every single day, but not once did it stop us
getting out and about and enjoying the island.

Places to stay

Accommodation on Big Island varies massively in price. At the cheap end of the market, there are a few hostels with bunk-room style accommodation, such as the simple but
inexpensive Hilo Bay Hostel (http://www.hawaiihostel.net/),
and there are camp-grounds available, although these tend to be more oriented to short-stop semi-wild camping on the hiking trails. Stay Kona side,
and you can wave good bye to a significant wedge of your hard-earned on some top-notch hotels, and there's every level of
accommodation in between.

If you want to go posh, then the Kona side of the Island is for you. There are some large, luxurious hotel complexes with large, luxurious hotel prices - but that's not very
"Winster Cavers", so you'll be looking elsewhere for recommendations!

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory produces informative daily reports,
and has webcams pointing at the two main active vents, Pu'u O'o and Halema'uma'u.
A webcam pointing at the Kalapana ocean entry would be nice, but (at the time of writing) doesn't seem to exist.

Guided Excursions on Kilauea:

There are a whole host of organisations that will guide you around Kilauea and the surrounding area. Providing you're happy hiking on
rough, isolated terrain, then our advice would be to spend your
hard-earned on a 4x4 hire car instead. The trails through the Volcanoes National Park are excellent, hiking maps are readily available,
and a guide is unlikely to get you closer to the action that you can get going solo.

There are frequent ranger-guided walks. These are very informative, and usually free! You'll learn a great deal about the island by
attending one of the ranger guided walks - highly recommended. Just call in at the Kilauea Visitor Centre for the latest details.

And having saved a few pennies (cents!?) by going largly self-guided, you could always treat yourself to either a helicopter ride, or a boat trip.
Neither are cheap, although the helicopter rides somehow seem to better justify the expense. There are some "no-fly" zones because
of the volcanic fumes that could potentially stall a helicopter's engines (oouch!), and if you're going out to sea, make sure your captain
has a suitable certificate of competency - the surf can be vicious.

Getting around Hawaii Big Island

Put simply - hire a car! But more seriously, look carefully at where you can take your vehicle. Many hire companies
do not allow you to go up the Saddle Road, despite the recent upgrading. And look out for the extras on your insurance!

Harpers Car Hire will allow you to off-road, but you pay for the privilege,
and we've heard you're well advised not to dent your motor! We ended up with a big Chevvy 4x4 from Alamo Car Hire
which we were allowed to take up the Saddle Road at least.

Hawaii is a "No Fault State", so you'll need your own SLI insurance. We found ourselves suitably covered by our car hire policy from
http://www.insurance4carhire.com - an annual CDW/LDW policy that you can
use instead of taking out the often expensive cover touted at the car hire booths.

Self-guided excursions on and around Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

From our various visits, we've compiled together a series of walking guides for Hawaii Big Island: